Denim has become a wardrobe staple, a classic, a universal. But it can be taken too far.

While the Canadian Tuxedo has been roundly mocked and reviled since the mid to late 1990's, perhaps no decade epitomizes the excesses of denim like the 1980's:

Historians have been unable to pinpoint exactly when Americans abandoned all semblance of good taste; some say 1986. But clearly, as Paula Abdul's music and Kirk Cameron's status as a sex symbol began their ascendency, something dark and malevolent had taken hold of our sensibilities. It manifested itself in denim.

Thank goodness the new millenium brought good sense back to the denim world.